Powerful Learning Practice Blog

Learning With Connected and Inspired Educators: Connected Educator Month Report

Here at PLP, we are all about Connected Learning Communities – which embody our three-pronged approach to professional development. This is what our Connected Learner Experience is all about – building networks, connecting educators to one another, and relearning what we think we know. It’s no surprise that we were involved and instrumental in Connected Educator Month during August of last year. This week, the USDOE released a report all about Connected Educator Month – including the goals, numbers, impact, and recommendations for going forward. We wanted to highlight a few things from the report and encourage you to download and read it yourself.

Graduate Credit Available For Connected Learner Experience

Powerful Learning Practice (PLP) has partnered with The University of North Dakota to offer graduate professional development credit for our year long connected learner experience. Educators may receive four credits per semester for this experience.  Please read the...

PBL Experts Are All Around Us!

Our arts education teachers quietly go about their work, often marginalized to the ‘extras’ or the ‘fluff’ of the school program, writes Canadian teacher educator Brenda Sherry. “And yet, I would argue that they are the PBL experts that we seek!” Sherry describes several attributes of student-centered pedagogy that are common among teachers of drama, music, painting, dance and artistic crafts.

New for 2013: GO DEEP with your teaching practice

This is not just a sit-and-get experience. It’s not your average two-day conference that gets you excited but then leaves you wondering, “What next?” This is your chance to go deeper. This is 7 months of coached, personalized professional learning where you will be a participant in changing your own teaching practice. You’ll co-create content in a collegial, exclusive community of practice full of other educators just like you who share your struggles and obstacles.

The Truth about Digital Porfolios & College Admissions

It appears that while schools and software companies are gearing up for students to start creating and curating a digital portfolio, the reality is that colleges and their admissions directors are more conservative on the current and future role of this medium. Right now, few colleges and universities will consider additional application materials and do not see this changing in the near future.

New eCourses for 2013

We have a brand new slate of courses for 2013 including topics by popular request like Make & Take Lesson Plans, Web 2.0 101 courses, PBL, Flipped Classroom and more! Buy a punchcard and save on courses for you or a friend. We also offer graduate credit for many of our eCourses. Get complete details or browse our courses below.

Collective Intelligence Building Twitter Chat

On Wednesday night, January 30th, AISI Network held another successful Twitter hashtag chat, this time on the topic of Collective Intelligence Building. It was a challenging topic for a twitter chat and in order to build collective intelligence people, were taking time to think, support others, ask questions and share resources. A smaller group of participants this go-round made for a slower, deeper, more scholarly chat. Great learning was had by all.

Our US History Student Film Festival

In mid-December, 33 tenth grade students, three teachers, assorted parents, and four guest judges gathered to watch the first ever Constitutional Amendments Film Festival at our school. The film festival was the largest and most complex research-based project of the three we’d done since school began this year. My colleagues and I had committed our students to two and one-half weeks of research, film creation, and film editing.

How Twitter Made a Bad Week Better

Twitter’s power as a personal learning network made coming back to school after the winter break more tolerable for Lisa Noble and her Canadian elementary kids. The highlights included tweets from space, transmitted by astronaut and social media maven Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut who landed on the international space station just before Christmas. And then there was littleBits…

Collective PBL Twitter Chat

We’d like to thank everyone for contributing to the #plpnetwork twitter chat last night. Despite having the flu, our fearless leader Sheryl moderated the chat like like a pro, presenting thought-provoking questions and keeping the conversation flowing. Chat participants came together from across the globe to discuss PBL: Building a Common Understanding.